The Fat Spy (1966)

Director:

Joseph Cates

Writer:

Matthew Andrews (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's a killer... a Diller... a blast of laffs!

Plot:

Off the coast of Florida, a nearly-deserted island is rumored to have the fountain of youth. A boatload...

Plot Keywords:

Fountain Of Youth | Florida | Motorboat | Mermaid | Bicycle

Cast

Phyllis Diller	...	Camille Salamander
Jack E. Leonard	...	Irving / Herman Gonjular (Twins)
Brian Donlevy	...	George Wellington
Johnny Tillotson	...	Dodo Bronk
Jayne Mansfield	...	Junior Wellington
Lauree Berger	...	Nanette
Jordan Christopher	...	Frankie
The Wild Ones	...	Themselves (Band)
Lou Nelson	...	Punjab, The Sikh
Toni Lee Shelly	...	Naiomi the Mermaid
Penny Roman	...	Herself
Adam Keefe	...	Special Voice (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chuck Alden	...	Treasure Hunter
Jill Bleidner	...	Treasure Hunter
Tommy Graves	...	Treasure Hunter
Linda Harrison	...	Treasure Hunter
Jeanette Taylor	...	Treasure Hunter
Tommy Trick	...	Treasure Hunter
Toni Turner	...	Treasure Hunter
Tracy Vance	...	Treasure Hunter
Deborah White	...	Treasure Hunter
Eddie Wright	...	Treasure Hunter

Runtime:

USA:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Cape Coral, Florida, USA

Company:

Phillip Productions

Trivia:

Filmed in June and July 1965, Jayne Mansfield was then five-six months pregnant with the last of her five children, son Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (AKA: Tony Cimber).

Quotes:

[When Junior discovers Camilla and Herman's plan to steal the Fountain of Youth, the bad guys grab her and tie her to a huge machine in the basement]
Camille: She knows too much, Herman. She must be destroyed!
Herman: We'll annihilate the entire building!
Camille: Get a bomb. A big bomb!
Herman: When I turn this knob, her fate will be sealed and our secret will be safe forever.
Camille: That knob? That's the air conditioning.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004) (V)

Objectively terrible, but I love it.

I first saw this movie on television in the 1980s, and I immediately loved it and enthusiastically set out to get a copy of it. Yes, objectively it's a terrible movie with ridiculous humor, but those facts are obvious enough that they doesn't need to be belabored. Now let's look at what the film has going for it:

1. set in Florida

2. '60s culture

3. '60s music

I truly love some of the songs in this film, especially "Come On Down" (?), "Wild Way of Living," and "The Turtle" (?), especially when set to scenes of teenagers dancing in swimsuits, rushing around in cars, and cruising on boats, all with a '60s Florida backdrop and a party feeling.

4. '60s architecture

5. Jayne Mansfield

6. ladies in swimsuits

7. captures a party feeling

8. humor

Although much of the humor is marginal, some of it is good, and some of it is quite original. For example, I thought the part where Junior (Jayne Mansfield) is tied up to an air conditioner that is supposed to destroy the building when it's left on too long was delightfully offbeat. And while tied up Jayne can't help but get carried away making kissing motions at the camera, which "forces" them to do multiple takes, whereupon she keeps doing exactly the same thing, and they leave all those takes in the movie.

9. offbeat touches

The air conditioning threat, the acoustic guitar duo that starts the film without warning, the film cards left in the final footage, Irving's "B-I-K-E" emphasis are all totally unexpected, original, and wacky, which adds to the humor.

10. film obscurity

11. scientific touches

12. escapism

This film came so close to being great. If only they had put some fast footage-with-music scenes, like at the motorboat scene in the part where "Wild Way of Living" is playing, in the style of the aerial scene in "Where the Boys Are" (1984) where the fast song "Hot Nights" is playing, or in the style of some of the better episodes of The Monkees or Laugh-In, this would have become a very appealing film that would have perfectly captured the beach party feeling. And some better Florida scenery thrown in, even if unrelated--better beaches, more theme parks, interesting buildings, parrots, iguanas, coral reefs, and so on--would have added attractiveness, interest, and ambiance. And a sexier scene of Jayne, a more straightforward plot, a clear-cut ending, and fewer old-fashioned songs all would have helped to streamline the film, and all that would have been so easy to do.

They had the right models, the right music, and the right locale, but they simply didn't put them together correctly. The essence of a great beach party film is here, but as it is you have to sort of read between the lines to enjoy it.